PoE Builds 3.19: Ward Loop Scion Build

Welcome to this comprehensive breakdown of the Ward Loop Scion build. We’re examining Akshay’s innovative approach that leverages Cast When Damage Taken mechanics to generate continuous spell casting through controlled self-damage cycles.

Let’s begin with the core defensive mechanic. Ward represents a specialized protection layer introduced through Expedition league items. When your character sustains damage, Ward absorbs the impact before your Life or Energy Shield, then temporarily breaks and regenerates after a brief delay period. The game-changing element is Olroth’s Resolve, a unique flask that fundamentally alters Ward behavior. Upon activation, this flask significantly reduces your Ward value but makes it completely unbreakable throughout its duration. Crucially, the damage calculation system still registers incoming hits even when they don’t deplete your Ward. This enables deliberate self-damage strategies to activate Cast When Damage Taken support gems without consuming your actual health pools, provided each individual damage instance remains below your current Ward threshold.

This build orchestrates a sophisticated damage feedback loop using Forbidden Rite and Summon Skeletons, both connected to Cast When Damage Taken supports and enhanced by Heartbound Loop. This creates perpetual self-inflicted damage that continuously triggers multiple spell setups, all utilizing Cast When Damage Taken to unleash relentless magical onslaughts.

The primary damage activation sequence employs a level 21 Divergent Cast When Damage Taken gem, which requires accumulating 2935 total damage to activate linked spells. Self-damage sources include Heartbound Loop’s “350 Physical Damage taken on Minion Death” modifier and Forbidden Rite’s “Take 40% of Maximum Life and 25% of Maximum Energy Shield as Chaos Damage” effect. We summon three Skeletons with precisely tuned 0.2-second durations achieved through two To Dust jewels, Anomalous Minion Speed support, and Window of Opportunity passive nodes. When these temporary minions expire naturally, each inflicts 420 physical damage via Heartbound Loop enhanced with Noxious Catalysts. This contributes 1260 damage toward our 2935 threshold. With 2923 Life, 64 Energy Shield, and -60% Chaos Resistance, activating Forbidden Rite delivers 1896 additional chaos damage. The combined 3156 total damage exceeds our Cast When Damage Taken trigger point, activating our primary damage spells. This exceeds our Olroth’s-affected Ward capacity, causing minor Life damage. Supported skill gems have 250-millisecond cooldowns between damage tracking and casting cycles, which we optimize to 0.23 seconds using a 10% Increased Cooldown Recovery Rate belt craft.

While the core concept involves perpetual self-damage to trigger spells, several advanced mechanics ensure loop reliability. Essential components include the Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel allocating The Traitor keystone. This passive provides distributed flask charges every second across your equipped flasks. Combined with strategic flask investment on the passive tree – and careful flask quantity management – you can maintain permanent uptime on the critical Olroth’s Resolve flask. Additionally, the build incorporates weapon swapping initialization. We equip two wands crafted with the “Summons Spectral Spirits when Equipped” modifier. Since we’re utilizing Heartbound Loop’s minion death damage mechanic, alternating between weapon sets causes Spectral Spirits to spawn and immediately perish when unequipped, triggering Heartbound Loop and initiating the damage cascade that sustains the loop indefinitely.

Common optimization mistakes include insufficient cooldown reduction leading to loop instability, improper Ward values causing actual health depletion, and flask charge generation inadequacy resulting in Olroth’s downtime. Advanced players should focus on achieving exactly 2935-3000 Ward while Olroth’s is active to maximize efficiency. The loop typically stabilizes within 2-3 seconds of initialization when properly configured.

Successfully implementing this build requires attention to several practical considerations. Ensure your passive tree includes sufficient flask effect duration and charge generation nodes. The Traitor keystone distribution requires careful planning to ensure Olroth’s receives adequate charges. When troubleshooting loop failures, check skeleton duration first – even 0.05 second deviations can disrupt timing. Verify your Chaos Resistance is precisely -60% for accurate Forbidden Rite damage calculations. Weapon swapping should be performed deliberately rather than rapidly to avoid overwhelming the damage tracking system.

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